


One Family

by KatLeePT



Category: Pocahontas (1995)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-25
Updated: 2015-11-25
Packaged: 2018-05-03 08:04:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,179
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5283140
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KatLeePT/pseuds/KatLeePT
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A morning in the life of an Indian Princess, young Pocahontas.</p>
            </blockquote>





	One Family

The sun breaks over the land, bringing a new day. I wake as the ground stirs to life beneath me. I am connected to everything. We all are. I can feel the birds stirring awake in their nest, their babies calling for food. I can feel the worms squirming in the ground as they search for their breakfast and the other animals moving in the forest.

Some others are waking and looking for food, but some of them are just now going to sleep. I'd like to stay up all night one night just to feel what it feels like to be one of them. It must be weird going to bed when the sun rises and being up all night underneath the moon, but I bet it's kind of neat, too.

But Daddy says we're to live in the daylight. He says there are too many dangers at night. I asked him once what kind of dangers, if that's what happened to Momma, but he won't tell me. Daddy doesn't like to talk about her or about feelings or anything that I really want to know. He just talks to me about what I should do and how I should act. I bet you have a father like that, too.

I hope you have a momma. I miss mine. I always speak to her spirit when I first wake and thank her for keeping watch over me. I never see any more, but I know she's here. I can feel her sometimes, especially when I'm sad.

There's another friend who comforts me when I'm sad, besides Meeko. Meeko's always here for me, too, but he's still asleep right now. He doesn't like to wake up early, but I want to move. I want to run with the deer this morning, but I can't leave him here. He tends to get into trouble when I'm not with him. Daddy says we both get into too much trouble and even more when we're together, but I don't think so.

I pick him up and run with him as I do most mornings. I like to run when I first wake up. It feels good. I like to run with the deer and the birds, and I try to do it every morning even though Daddy says a Princess shouldn't run.

I always come to see my other best friend when dawn wakes me -- or, at least, I come see her if Daddy doesn't manage to stop me first. She's my grandmother, but she doesn't look like me. She's a tree. But we're all related, you know. We're all brothers and sisters and mothers and fathers. Everybody that lives in this world -- you and me and every one we know, every animal, tree, and rock, and every person, too -- we're all one big family.

Grandmother Willow is just opening her eyes when I reach her. She yawns as she smiles. She always has a smile for me and always makes me smile, too. "My Pocahontas," she calls me. I like the way she says my name.

She smiles fondly at me. That smile is so big and special. She only uses it for me, and she makes me feel like I'm the only person in the whole, wide world when she looks at me that way even though I know I'm not. "Grandmother Willow," I ask, climbing up to be closer to her, "did you dream last night?"

She always has the most interesting dreams. I love to hear about them. She sees all kinds of things I can only imagine seeing. I don't know how she sees so much since she's a tree and can't move her roots, but I know she does.

"I did," she says, yawning again, and then she looks really brightly at me. "I dreamed of you, my Pocahontas, and of white clouds."

"Clouds?" I ask.

"Yes. They're coming soon, I think."

"Tell me more, please." I want to hear everything!

"I don't know much yet, my eager Princess, but they're bringing very special things to you and me. You're going to make a friend, but he's not going to be an animal or a tree."

"Is he a rock?"

"No!" She laughs, and her branches tickle me.

I laugh and grin but stop frolicking -- that's what my Daddy calls it -- when I remember what she said about her dream. "What is he, Grandmother Willow?" I ask. I have to know. I've always been curious about things. Daddy says that's why I get into so much trouble.

"He's like you, my Pocahontas. He walks on two legs. But he is also not like you."

"How can he be like me and not like me, too?"

"Look at Meeko. He is like you," she tells me. "He is hungry both for food and for adventure. He is curious. He wants to know everything there is to know about the world around him."

I nod. "That is like me, I admit." And I bet it's like you, too.

"But he is covered with fur where you have very little hair."

"I have nice, long hair!"

"Yes," she agrees, smiling at me. "You do, but it all comes from your head. His is all over his body. And he doesn't talk like you."

"No, but we can talk."

"Yes," she agrees again, "because you talk with your heart. You will have to use your heart with this new stranger, too, but everything will work out right." She looks funny for a moment. Like she's almost not sure what she's saying is truth, but Grandmother wouldn't lie.

"Are you sure, Grandmother?"

"Yes. Yes, of course, my dear Pocahontas." She still doesn't look sure.

Her branches wrap around me and pull me close. It's her version of a hug, and I hug her back, my arms going around her bark. "You will meet this man and these clouds, and they will change your life forever. But in the end, you will be happy. You will live happily ever after."

I wish I could see her face, because she still doesn't really sound sure. But all Princesses live happily ever after, don't they? Besides, I think, hugging her back tightly, Grandmother wouldn't lie to me. She loves and respects me too much for that.

We look up when my Daddy blows on his horn. "They're looking for you again, little Pocahontas."

"Yes, I know. I'd better go. But I'll see you again."

"Yes, of course, my dear." She hugs me again, then gently pushes me away with her branches. "Go now before he worries."

"Daddy always worries." But she's right. I do have to go, but I'll see you again, too, one day, won't I? Just like I'll see the clouds and my new, special friend one day, too. Until then, remember: We're all one family, because the Maker of Sun made us so. You and me, him and her, dog and cat, fox and raccoon, tree and rock, sun and moon, we're all one family.

Until we meet again!

  
**The End**

**Author's Note:**

> All characters within belong to Disney, not the author, and are used without permission.


End file.
